Corporate Stories

ASTRI’s Machine Vision R&D Team is showcasing its latest R&D innovation at the Vision China (Shanghai) 2018 Exhibition – one of the largest and most influential Machine Vision shows in Asia. Organised by the China Society of Image and Graphics (CSIG) and Messe Muenchen International (MMI), the exhibition takes place at Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) from 14-16 March 2018.

The ASTRI team taking part in the event was delighted to receive Mr Denis Tse Tik-yang, Board Director of ASTRI, as a visitor to their booth. Mr Tse expressed his support to ASTRI’s innovative R&D endeavours and gave the team a big cheer for their efforts.

Vision China is a leading platform for industry players, tech-experts and researchers representing different sectors, coming from all-over Asia and overseas. ASTRI’s Machine Vision R&D team is committed to supporting the development of intelligent manufacturing in this region, fully aligned with the nationwide Industry 4.0 agenda as well as the Greater Bay Area priorities. Dedicated to enhancing Hong Kong’s global competitiveness in technology-based industries through applied research, ASTRI is also playing its part to augment the HKSAR Government’s ‘Reindustrialisation of Hong Kong’ strategy.

The ASTRI team taking part in the event was delighted to receive Mr Denis Tse Tik-yang, Board Director of ASTRI, as a visitor to their booth.ASTRI’s Machine Vision R&D Team is showcasing its latest R&D innovation at the Vision China (Shanghai) 2018 ExhibitionASTRI’s Machine Vision R&D Team is showcasing its latest R&D innovation at the Vision China (Shanghai) 2018 ExhibitionLed by Dr CJ Tsai, ASTRI’s Optoelectronics R&D team is showcasing state-of-the-art Machine Vision solutions at the expo.

Student reporters from Ming Pao Daily get a taste of ASTRI’s exciting endeavours, powered by technology

The fascinating world of journalism excites a lot of people. Learning about the latest developments in society, businesses and communities, and getting to write compelling stories about them – the appeal is obvious. When one of the leading newspapers in Hong Kong provides young students with an exposure to news-hunting and storytelling, and compliments that with an opportunity to learn about latest technological developments in the city, the outcome can be quite captivating. That’s exactly what happened when some 12 student-reporters from Ming Pao Daily visited ASTRI recently. The visitors, mostly secondary school students with a keen interest in digital developments, spent a few hours visiting various R&D labs and facilities within ASTRI’s premises and chatting with Dr Justin Chuang – ASTRI’s Vice President for Next Generation Network.

Dr Chuang was accompanied by Ms Eunice Cheng – Director, Public Affairs – to welcome the student reporters from Ming Pao daily. Before moving on to visit the R&D labs, Ms Cheng shared an overview of ASTRI’s technology initiatives and some innovative R&D projects which drew curious and interesting questions from the students. Dr Chuang also shared about ASTRI’s technology vision, the growth potential of the tech-industry in Hong Kong, the city’s ability to attract global talent and investors, and the strategy to build the next generation of technology leaders from among Hong Kong’s youth.

Dr Chuang – originally from Taiwan who spent many years working in the telecommunications industry in the US before moving to Hong Kong as a professor in the early years of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, explained why “Hong Kong continues to be Asia’s world city with lots to offer and lot more to achieve.” Dubbed one of the four “original Asian Tigers”, Hong Kong has “a vibrant economy with great infrastructure and an excellent, business-friendly regulatory regime which are genuinely conducive to promote innovation and technology,” he commented.

The students then visited ASTRI’s Cyber Range facility which is Hong Kong’s first-ever specialised simulated training facility to fight and deter for cyber-crimes. Developed jointly by ASTRI and the Hong Kong Police Force, the facility trains cybersecurity professionals from the Police Force as well as the financial services industry.

Afterwards, the visitors spent time in the Smart City Innovation Centre (SCIC) – a joint initiative by ASTRI, Hong Kong Science Park, and Innovation and Technology Commission of the HKSAR Government. Demonstrations in the SCIC included the application of Blockchain in financial services, naked-eye 3D display technology, Smart Pole, augmented and mixed reality applications, Head-up and Head-mount displays, pedestrian-friendly navigation, smart parking, connected cars, and various high-speed telecommunications R&D.

Dr Justin Chuang and Ms Eunice Cheng welcomed a team of student reporters from Mingpao Daily to ASTRI.The student reporters learnt about a wide range of ASTRI’s R&D endeavours including FinTech and blockchain.The visitors saw demonstrations of ASTRI’s smart city solutions at the SCIC.Dr.Justin Chuang introduced the ASTRI Palm Fusion Biometric solution with the student reporters.Dr Justin Chuang, originally from Taiwan, shared his R&D experience in ASTRI with the student reporters.

ASTRI’s Smart Water IoT system received an international recognition at the WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards 2018

ASTRI’s Smart Water IoT System has received yet another global recognition – this time from World Information Technology and Services Alliances (WITSA). The innovative smart city solution, which has the potential to revolutionise the way water supply is monitored, measured and analysed, won a Merit Award at the WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards 2018. The award presentation ceremony took place on 19 February 2018 in Hyderabad, the international ICT hub of India.

ASTRI’s Smart Water IoT System won the Merit Award in the ‘Public Sector Excellence’ category in this international platform. This award-winning solution allows utility service operators to monitor water systems in real-time. Applied through both wired and wireless detectors across systems, it facilitates data analysis, supports user enquiry, allows timely access to water quality information, and detects water leakage to improve the overall efficiency of water usage. The solution is currently being trialled by Hong Kong’s Water Supplies Department. It has already been successfully deployed in four provinces in Mainland China.

Commenting on this feat, ASTRI’s CEO Mr Hugh Chow congratulated the project team for this “innovative solution that modernises water supply systems with significant potential benefits for the densely populated urbanscape of Hong Kong.” He referred to the project’s current pilot run by the Hong Kong Water Supplies Department and added that “this recognition will reinforce our efforts to innovate state-of-the-art smart city solutions and forge strong collaborations to support local industries and the communities.”

WITSA is a leading consortium of the global ICT industry – its members represent over 80 countries and territories around the world. The annual WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards are organised to recognise industry players that have added exceptional value to the sector through their achievements, by leveraging ICT for the benefit of the society. The awards are given out in seven categories, usually with one winning award and two merit awards conferred on deserving nominees in each category.

ASTRI’s Smart Water IoT System won a series of local, regional and international accolades in the past. The impressive list includes: Best Business Solution (Application) Bronze Award in the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2017 and Merit Award in the Industrial Application category of the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards 2017 (APICTA).

Chief Executive Officer Mr Hugh Chow and Chief Technology Officer Dr MeiKei Ieong with ASTRI’s award winning team of the Smart Water IoT R&D project, which was honoured at the WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards 2018Congratulating the winning team, Chief Executive Officer Mr Hugh Chow noted that the award is a recognition of ASTRI’s innovative R&D effortsASTRI’s Smart Water IoT system received an international recognition at the WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards 2018

Paul Chan Mo-po, Financial Secretary (FS) of the HKSAR Government, delivered Hong Kong’s 2018-19 budget in the Legislative Council today. The first full-year budget announced since Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor took over as the SAR’s Chief Executive, it revealed a record surplus of HKD 138 billion, and focused heavily on welfare measures as well as I&T development. A massive HKD 50 billion – equalling over 35% of the budget surplus – has been dedicated to I&T, with particular emphasis on boosting the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF); Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop; two dedicated research clusters for artificial intelligence, robotics and health technologies; and enhanced support to enabling organisations like Hong Kong Science Park and Cyberport.

Mr Chan made it very clear that he would like to see Hong Kong shining bright “in the fierce I&T race amidst keen competition” from regional and global players. Leveraging its traditional and proven strengths and banking on emerging prospects, “Hong Kong must optimise its resources” while focusing on areas like biotechnology, artificial intelligence, smart city and FinTech. Suggesting that a sound strategy and targeted efforts must be supported by adequate resources, he pointed out that “In last year’s Budget, I reserved $10 billion for supporting I&T development. This year, I will set aside an additional $50 billion.”

In addition to HKD 20 billion and HKD 10 billion set aside for the Lok Ma Chau Loop project and ITF, FS announced HKD 10 billion support to Hong Kong Science Park. Hong Kong Cyberport will also receive additional funding to support technology start-ups, attract Mainland and overseas technology enterprises, and strengthen its incubation programme. When outlining his plans for the financial services industry, Mr Chan specifically mentioned grooming future talents and development of FinTech as important priorities.

In his budget speech, Mr Chan referred to the eight key areas in I&T development previously announced by the Chief executive: investing more resources into R&D, nurturing a talent pool, promoting venture capital, strengthening scientific research infrastructure, carrying out legislation review, opening up data, streamlining government procurement, and boosting STEM education.

In line with the HKSAR Chief Executive’s Policy Speech, the Financial Secretary said the Government will offer a significant tax-reduction for R&D investment. This, coupled with the Government’s continued support to basic and applied R&D institutions, aims to Hong Kong’s Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product from the current 0.73% to 1.5% within the current Government’s five‑year tenure.

ASTRI welcomes the strategic boost announced in the budget – the fund allocation will provide significant support to I&T development in Hong Kong. As the largest Government-funded R&D institution in Hong Kong, ASTRI focuses on exploring and applying new technological solutions in areas such as AI, machine learning, smart city and FinTech. ASTRI remains committed to leveraging the power of technology to collaborate with different stakeholders in the I&T ecosystem in enhancing the competitiveness of businesses and enriching the lives of people.

ASTRI and Intel demonstrate Virtualised Mobile Core and V2X Networking System in Mobile World Congress 2018

ASTRI is showcasing the latest technologies in Next Generation Central Office (NGCO) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Networking System in the Intel booth (Hall 3, Stand 3E31) at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 in Barcelona, Spain.

1. Mobile Core/Edge on Next Generation Central Office (NGCO)

The demonstration in Intel’s booth showcases how ASTRI’s technologies in mobile core/edge network functions can be effectively deployed in the Next Generation Central Office (NGCO) architecture.

The NGCO is a three-tier virtualised architecture namely central office at edge, regional and central locations to host mobile and fixed network functions with simultaneous applications. The scalable architecture enables low-latency and delay-sensitive data to be forwarded and processed at the edge tier, while computational and data intensive operations are processed at the regional and central tiers.

ASTRI’s next generation mobile core (vEPC) and mobile edge (vMEC) software can be flexibly deployed in NGCO to support 4G and pre-5G core network capabilities, and can also be evolved to 5G. With Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors and network acceleration hardware, ASTRI’s user plane function can deliver over 200Gbps throughput while leaving CPU headroom for applications processing on a single Intel architecture-based x86 server.

ASTRI’s configurable NFV orchestrator supports the network evolution towards an application-driven system architecture, which is an essential factor in the leap to 5G. ASTRI demonstrated how our V2X networking system as the connected-vehicle network slice works closely with edge and central office. It delivers significantly lower latency for time-critical events and also enables flexible scalability of V2X commercial deployments.

ASTRI’s V2X in-car processing unit and algorithms at network edge ensures enhanced road safety through intelligent alerts for various unique situations such as: ‘V2V Do Not Pass’, ‘V2P Vulnerable Road User’, and ‘V2I Intersection Collision’ warnings. The system detects threats and can alert vehicle drivers and other individual road users in real time to avoid accidents. Through the coordination and policy provisioning of multiple V2X Road Side Units (RSU), road users can be altered of unexpected traffic conditions (e.g. traffic accident, congestion etc.) in affected areas with promptness. ASTRI’s V2X networking system is a key technology enabler for assisted driving and 5G autonomous driving.

The system prototype demonstrates the cost-effective deployment of edge processing servers by HPE Edgeline EL4000 Converged Edge Systems and Intel® Xeon® D Processors, and how they can scale out a V2X system, delivering high throughput and low-latency packet forwarding and processing capabilities.

The innovative design of V2X Networking System benefits equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Tier-1 suppliers and autonomous vehicle (AV) vendors in enabling V2X edge applications and see-through-enabled autonomous driving. It also benefits operators, service providers and equipment vendors by enabling commercial roll-out of scalable V2X, and provision of 5G services for their customers. It also enables city administrators and transport operators to implement real-time and intelligent traffic management, to ensure safer and more efficient traffic management.

ASTRI is demonstrating the NGCO and V2X technologies at Intel booth (Hall 3, Stand 3E31) at the MWC which is being held at Fira Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain, from 26 February to 1 March 2018. ASTRI has been an Intel® Network Builders ecosystem partner since 2016. ASTRI and Intel published through this ecosystem, a solution brief and whitepaper on NFV for small cell networks, and whitepaper for C-RAN.

ASTRI and Red Hat collaboration aims to support the endeavours of the ASTRI-HKMA FinTech Innovation Hub

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) has announced a collaboration with Red Hat to bring some additional features to the users of the HKMA-ASTRI Fintech Innovation Hub. The collaboration involves leveraging Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform to create a collaborative and open environment.

HKMA-ASTRI Fintech Innovation Hub provides a collaborative and open space for different players within Hong Kong’s FinTech ecosystem to develop innovative technological solutions for the financial services industry. Red Hat’s enterprise-grade Kubernetes container application platform will be installed in the Hub’s isolated virtual machines – benefitting the Hub users in their application incubation process. It will enhance the Hub’s ability to offer a scalable and segregated network to help emulate, validate and analyse different FinTech tools and solutions before they are launched in the market. Using this platform, the application development cycle will become shorter and more efficient. Users can trial their solution prototypes in a single platform across multiple locations with minimal disruption to current processes.

ASTRI will continue to strengthen the features and benefits in the Hub – providing enhanced flexibility and a strong, collaborative environment for innovative FinTech application development. This collaboration demonstrates ASTRI’s commitment to work with other stakeholders in the FinTech ecosystem to deliver enabling tools, platforms and solutions in an increasingly complex digital world. Details of this collaboration between ASTRI and Red Hat were recently shared with representatives of the media. The attending journalists took keen interest and asked many questions on the development initiatives of the ASTRI-HKMA FinTech Innovation Hub.

FCAS aims to nurture Hong Kong’s financial and technological talents to meet the emerging and ever-evolving needs of the industry. Last year, in the programme’s inaugural edition, ASTRI joined hands with HKMA, sourcing potential FinTech talents from 10 academic institutions who were groomed for practical exposure in 12 banks. As the co-organiser of the scheme, ASTRI provided core FinTech training to the 70 odd selected candidates, and used its network across the universities to encourage potential talents to embrace FinTech as an inspiring career choice. FCAS 2.0 offers a number of exciting opportunities and development initiatives for the participating students. The number of students admissible to the programme has also been extended to over 200.

Speaking at the event, Mr Hugh Chow, ASTRI’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “The technology ecosystem thrives on three key elements: talent, capital and market. Having a strong talent pipeline is a prerequisite for the development of science and technology.” Mr Chow shared ASTRI’s belief that “FCAS 2.0 will not only benefit the students, but also add significant value to the banking industry and the entire innovation and technology ecosystem of Hong Kong.” He added that “ASTRI fully supports the various initiatives under FCAS 2.0, and is delighted to be working alongside HKMA as well as two major players in Hong Kong’s technology system – Cyberport and Hong Kong Science Park.”

Four participants from last year’s FCAS shared their experience on the occasion – how they learned from the programme and applied the FinTech knowledge and skills in the practical field. The students also explained how they “realised the importance of communication skills during the FCAS internship and were inspired by the colleagues they got to work with.”

FinTech Career Accelerator Scheme 2.0 has been officially launchedMr Hugh Chow, ASTRI’s CEO, spoke at the launch ceremonyParticipants from last year’s FCAS programme shared their experience

ASTRI, powered by technology, strives to enrich people’s lives by innovating solutions that help businesses and communities. Showcasing one of its latest and novel solutions, developed jointly with its Sweden-based partner Smart Secure ID (SSID), ASTRI is participating in the Hong Kong Science Park Innovation Showcase 2017-18. The solution showcased by ASTRI – ‘Palm Fusion Biometric sensing device’ – is a biometric authentication method based on the unique patterns and various characteristics in the palms of people’s hands. The solution uses a state-of-the-art contact-less, biometric sensing and verification device developed by ASTRI. This solution works by capturing a person’s palm vein and palm print patterns at the same time while sensing the presence of a palm placed on the device through infrared and visible light.

Since veins lie beneath the skin, attempts to forge an identity becomes extremely difficult. Furthermore, palm print contains a wealth of inimitable features – even identical twins can be differentiated through their palm print patterns. By using the fusion technology, ASTRI’s solution obtains a higher security level, combining both palm print and palm vein features.

Identity management is a key issue across many different sectors as organisations as well as citizens strive to safeguard their information and digital assets. This innovative solution from ASTRI brings huge practical benefits through its robust access control mechanism.

As technologies continue to evolve, they constantly reshape the world around us. The benefits of advanced technologies can be felt in our daily lives – it’s a force we need to leverage and appreciate more. The Innovation Showcase organised by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation Limited (HKSTP) is a platform for innovators to display and share their invention, and tell their stories of how to integrate their emerging technologies to deliver social and economic benefits. ASTRI is pleased to be a part of this year-long showcase where innovative solutions will be on display across different locations within Hong Kong Science Park in Shatin. ASTRI shares the same vision with HKSTP and other players in Hong Kong’s technology ecosystem – making technologies work for Hong Kong and its people.

At the Demo Day of the Safeguard App Competition organised by HSBC on 13 December 2017, student teams and start-ups showcased their ideas. ASTRI was the Technology Enabler in this contest, providing a suite of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which contestants used to develop their iOS or Android app prototypes. In addition to providing training materials and support in addressing contestants’ queries, ASTRI built a Blockchain-based virtual platform for contestants to use as they developed their application prototypes for the competition.

Launched in September 2017, the competition was open to Hong Kong-based tertiary students and start-ups, who were invited to submit innovative solutions to help bank customers to maintain their most up-to-day information in account profiles. At the Demo Day, shortlisted teams pitched their proposals to a panel of respected banking and technology experts. Dr MeiKei Ieong, Chief Technology Officer of ASTRI was a member of the judging panel which also included Mr Li Shu-pui, JP, Executive Director (Financial Infrastructure), Hong Kong Monetary Authority; and Ir Peter Yeung, Head of EE and ICT Cluster, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation; and executives from HSBC: Mr Raymond Cheng, Chief Operating Officer, Asia-Pacific; Mr Greg Hingston, Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Hong Kong; and Mr Daniel Chan, Head of Business Banking, Commercial Banking, Hong Kong.

Speaking at the event, Ms Diana Cesar, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, HSBC congratulated the winning teams and extended her gratitude to the judging panel and the contest’s technology partner ASTRI. She talked about the HSBC-ASTRI R&D Innovation Laboratory which mobilises FinTech developments through exploratory activities in various areas.

The winner in the Student category was InstaSure who came up with a user-friendly interface for individual users to monitor and maintain account security. Game Changers, the second prize winner, aims to utilise information sharing within social groups to help customers to maintain, verify and share their contact information. BU WWW, winner of the third prize, proposed an app that can update customers’ information in real time in an automated and secure way.

The winner in the Start-up category was Earth Channel Limited. They developed a smart eWallet app that collects customers’ information in an efficient way – protected by two different Blockchain technologies that respectively carries out predictive analysis of customers’ location and lifestyle preference, and ensures the maximum privacy of their information. BETECH won the second prize for their idea to automate the updating of phone numbers and addresses, using machine learning technologies. The third prize went to Cloud Connect Technology for their ‘Click Click Through’ app which stores and updates customers’ data across distributed ledgers.

ASTRI looks forward to advancing its FinTech R&D partnership with HSBC by developing more innovative applications, prototypes and proofs-of-concept that will make banking better, faster and safer.

Dr MeiKei Ieong, CTO of ASTRI, with the winning teams, other judges and guestsDr MeiKei Ieong, CTO of ASTRI, with one of the winning teams

The 21st Beijing-Hong Kong Economic Collaboration Symposium was held in Hong Kong from 28-29 November 2017 with the theme of “Leading Innovation, Exchanging Resources, Driving Development, and Creating Prosperity”. During the event, ASTRI signed a partnership agreement with the Beijing Fangshan Yancun Technology Park, to facilitate technology planning, mapping and implementation for the Financial Technologies (FinTech) cluster within the Park. Dr Justin Chuang, ASTRI’s Vice President for Next Generation Network, and Ms Ma Xiaolan, CEO of Internet Financial Security Demonstration Industrial Park, signed the agreement on their respective organisations’ behalf.

ASTRI, the largest applied R&D institution in the Hong Kong SAR, is a leading technology developer for the financial services sector in Hong Kong and this region. Under this partnership, ASTRI’s R&D expertise will be leveraged to develop and commercialise innovative FinTech tools and platforms in the Mainland, including Blockchain, Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. In addition to powering FinTech development in the Mainland market using ASTRI’s FinTech Intellectual Property and innovative R&D, the partnership aims to assist the development of specialised technology hubs and industrial parks specifically targeting FinTech innovation.

Since Hong Kong’s reunion with the country in 1997, the collaboration between Beijing and Hong Kong has seen prolific growth in investment, trade, technological cooperation, cultural exchange and entrepreneurship. By the end of September 2017, investment from Hong Kong in Beijing had reached USD 59.13 billion, accounting for 44.9% of the capital city’s utilised foreign direct investment, according to the Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau. Over the same period, Beijing’s direct investment in the SAR reached USD 26.34 billion, accounting for 44.3% of Beijing’s foreign direct investment. Deeper collaboration in the area of innovation and technology will help Hong Kong and the Mainland to leverage each other’s strengths, and help secure strong, sustainable growth in the country’s economic development.

ASTRI plays a crucial role in promoting technology and innovation not just for the city, but also for the country. In addition to developing innovative technologies and solutions that benefit industries and communities in Hong Kong, ASTRI also contributes to the city’s innovation and technology development efforts to make the most of national and international mega-programmes like the Belt and Road Initiative, Industry 4.0 Transformation and development of the South China Greater Bay Area.

Dr Justin Chuang, ASTRI’s Vice President for Next Generation Network, and Ms Ma Xiaolan, CEO of Internet Financial Security Demonstration Industrial Park, signed the agreementDr Justin Chuang (third from left), and Dr James Lei (second from right) of ASTRI, with Ms Ma Xiaolan (third from right) of Internet Financial Security Demonstration Industrial Park, and other officials